Amazingly, Time is a Prevalent Reason Behind Drastic Changes
by Copacetic Pessimism
Summary: Given the correct circumstances and conditions, time can truly change any single person.
1. Chapter 1

"I want something genuine..."

It was at that moment I felt a sharp pain in my head, forcing me to violently jerk up from my blissful sleep.

Damn, it's this dream again. Well, at the frequency this happens along with the horrible after-effects it brings, it's more correct to call it a recurring nightmare.

At first, I was curious as to why this keeps happening, but I eventually lost interest. It's still annoying as hell to have it happen to me every so often especially with the headache it brings.

Luckily for me, I have my beloved MAXX Coffee to comfort me. If it weren't for this heavenly beverage, I doubt I would've been able to survive up to now. Seriously though, the amount of work they give you in university is not even comparable to high school. Project after project, essay after essay, numerous lectures where I actually have to pay attention to or else I'm screwed. I just want to enjoy life damn it, not suffer under the demands of university. It's not even like I'm in Toudai or anything, I just settled for Chiba university, the most practical choice at the time.

Alas, it's a trial I must overcome. Even though I firmly believe in the saying 'to work is to lose', I have to put up with all this schoolwork if I want to actually enjoy my future. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to end up having a boring white-collar job, that's practically throwing my life away. I just don't want to end up as a NEET or a gold digger. I'm only preparing myself for my self-earned successful future by attaining all the necessary skills needed to do so via attending university. I'll be rewarded for my troubles soon enough.

Oh wait, I still actually have to walk to the kitchen to get my early morning refreshment. After a bit of struggling against the laziness, I managed to limp my way towards the fridge. Once I opened it, I was met with a cool breeze along with a sight of a dozen cans of MAXX Coffee appearing in front of me, bringing a smile to my face.

"Ah, that hits the spot." I say to myself in this empty apartment of mine. Fortunately enough, I managed to convince my parents to get me an apartment all for myself rather than living in a dorm. I don't think I'll be able to survive four years of university while living with someone. Just imagining that gives me the shivers.

I have to say though, I'm pretty impressed with this apartment despite living in it for already two years. There's a decently sized living room along with a reasonable amount of space allotted for the kitchen. A somewhat large single bedroom with its own bathroom. I didn't bother picking a unit with two rooms since I have no need for it. No way in hell I would invite anyone to my apartment anyway. For it's low price and short distance from university, I was lucky to get my hands on this. I heard there were also other people who wanted this apartment, but I managed to get it first. Ha, in your faces strangers, I get to live a comfortable life and not you.

I then heard the sound of an alarm ringing coming from my room. I take a glance at the wall clock to see I have a class in ten minutes. If I were any other university student, I would be in a complete panic right now. After two years however, I've grown accustomed to situations such as these. I can handle this situation flawlessly. I have to say though, it's a shame I can't play with Vita-chan right now, maybe later tonight.

I finish up my drink and dispose of the can before I quickly make my way to the bathroom. I immediately take off my clothes as I enter and perform one of my 108 special techniques, instantaneous shower. After countless attempts and many weeks of training, it doesn't even take me two minutes to finish a complete wash.

Once I exit the shower, I grab the first set of decent clothes I could find in my closet and make my way out of my apartment. As always, I make sure I thoroughly lock up everything before I leave. This apartment of mine is my lifeline, it contains everything I hold dear in my life. I can't afford for any of it to get stolen.

Looking at the time now, I've got six minutes left. If I have a fast pace, the walk to university is only four minutes while the lecture hall itself is only one and a half minutes from the entrance. I even have thirty seconds to spare, that's just good I am at this thing.

Before I even realized, I find myself standing in front of Chiba university, the institution of education I currently attend. As usual as I was walking, I witnessed the different kinds of people you see at university. Contrary to popular belief, not every person is more social and whatnot compared to high school. In fact, it's even more difficult to social compared to high school. Without having a definite set of people having the same classes, you're more than likely not to interact with others all that often, not unless you're a riajuu of course. In that case, you can just blow up.

With thirty seconds left to spare as predicted, I arrived to the lecture hall of my first class. Even though I'm still drowsy and recovering from my headache, I just had to be greeted by one of the most annoying lectures in my schedule along with that horrible professor. Looks like I'm already starting my day with something so troublesome.

After a couple of grueling hours, I was finally blessed with my lunch break. I'm aware that I brag about a lot of things, but I'll never really get used to the notion of sitting down, listening and writing pages and pages of notes without end. I'll just never get used to it.

I quickly make it to the cafeteria and ordered one of my standard lunches, two pieces of yakisoba bread and some milk. This may not seem the most appetizing and appropriate meal to a university student but to me, it's good enough and more importantly, it's cheap.

To clarify though, I'm not one of those stereotypical broke university students struggling to deal with basic necessities. I get more than enough allowance from my parents, and I'm perfectly capable of affording decent meals. I'm just not in the mood for any of it.

With my simple meal in hand, I immediately leave the cafeteria to find my special spot for lunch. No, I'm not some sentimental high school teen trying to avoid their classmates due to cynical reasons. I have days where I eat in the cafeteria and days I don't. It's as simple as that. This spot I'm referring to isn't even that much of a secret since there are always more than a handful of people present when I go there. It just has a nice rustic feel to it with it's simple stone benches and abundance of trees.

As I took my seat on one of the benches, I was approached by a group of people wanting to converse with me. While it's true I'm not fully confident and trusting of other people, I have the necessary dispositions and social skills needed to interact with others. Talking to others for purely social reasons isn't poisonous to me or anything like that, so it doesn't hurt to engage in it every now and then. I sometimes also manage to derive entertainment from it. The only requirement however is that I have to vastly change how I usual act, something I don't mind that much.

After thirty minutes of repetitive and tiresome talk, I finally managed to escape that conversation and escape to my next lecture hall. It's still amazes me how people can still be so narcissistic and so full of themselves with their way of speech as well as their mannerisms. Don't even get me started on how brainless the content of their conversations is. Nonetheless, it still provides experience necessary to survive in the real world. It feels a lot like an optional series of quests in any RPG. You're perfectly fine if you don't do it, but benefits are sure to reveal themselves if you do actually take them and put the effort into it.

Once the lecture started, the professor immediately called for a group project that would be submitted in two days. Even though it's not required by the regular standards of classes here at Chiba university, this certain professor is particularly fond of group projects. If I remember correctly, during the first day, she went on and on about how one grows and develops more as an individual when they work with others to achieve a goal. It also apparently promotes synergy, communication and teamwork, something vital in society today. A rather positive and optimistic view of how human relationships work. I guess being a former preschool teacher had a factor in that mindset. Honestly though, how does a person jump from preschool teacher to university professor? Eh whatever, I could care less about that now as various people started to approach me.

This always happens whenever group projects are assigned. Just because I did excellently during one group project I opted to do by myself, people tend to swarm to me at the slight mention of group projects. I would be completely enraged if they did this just to leech off my superior skills but luckily for me, they don't. Other than a couple of rare cases, most of my group mates are actually competent and are able to fulfill the tasks I give them. This takes a load off my shoulders which is the main reason why I don't despise group projects all that much. Still, all this interaction starts to get annoying in tedious if done in excess.

With the sun slowly setting in the distance, the day has finally ended. After that horrible lecture in the morning and way over my limit of endurable conversation for a day, I just want to immediately head home, drink MAXX Coffee and spend the night with my oh so lovable Vita-chan.

As I was exiting campus grounds, I witnessed the various organizations and clubs that are hosted here. Some athletic, some cultural and others handiwork and welfare related. Thinking back, I've been approached multiple times by various organizations to be a member. Not because they're desperate for people, they just really want me particularly to join. It's a given though obviously since I'm such an amazing person gifted with various talents if I do say so myself. I was even asked personally by the head of the student government here to be a member. Sadly for them though, I could care less about any of those. Those all consume my precious free time, something I'm not willing to ever give up. Good enough that they're sensible people and stop hounding me after I politely declined.

"Yui-senpai!" I heard a young woman calling out to me from behind as she was running towards me. Oh who the hell is it this time? Another one of the many clingy kouhai I have? With how many times this happens to me, normally I would be rejecting these kinds of people. However, I just can't find it in myself to reject them as it is one of my very few weaknesses.

To hell with it, after this abnormally bad day, maybe she will be able to cheer me up.


	2. Chapter 2

I find myself lethargic as I slowly make my way home.

Without even realizing, I spent too much time at that cafe with my kouhai. What can I say though, I actually enjoyed her company. Compared to most of my peers who talk to me about either academics or generic topics, I actually got to talk about something I enjoy. Today, I was able to go all out with my love for cats. A few months ago, this kouhai of mine found me fawning over some kittens by the campus gates and that kinda started it all. Ever since then, we would go out like this and revel with topics on these adorable feline creatures.

Now that I think about it though, I get approached by various kouhai of both genders for different reasons. For example, there are those who I play video games with as well as those who share the same taste as me in both novels and light novels. Oh yeah, can't forget those girls who just endlessly tease me for the hell of it. I don't even understand why I still put up with it. I thought those kind of people already mature by the time university comes, guess I was wrong. While some of them were just mischievous in nature, others give me this yuri vibe...

Regardless, all this interaction with my underclassmen just shows how amazing I am as a senpai. I feel so proud of myself!

It's still tiring though...

As I was walking, I couldn't help but bask in the familiar scenery of these street lights. It used to be just dull rusty steel lights, but now they're silver coated lamp posts with intricate designs resembling those from Europe. I remember how a year ago they remodeled most of them for purely aesthetic purposes. Sure this may be a pretty crowded street but, I'm pretty sure they could've used the money for more urgent matters but since I get to enjoy this kind of atmosphere, I don't mind the decision.

A pure feeling of joy then envelops me as I see my apartment complex in the distance. There's no place better than home after all. Hell, given the chance, I would stay at home all day.

Once I made it to my unit, I immediately brought out my key and quickly let myself in. After I locked the front door, I removed all unnecessary clothing and dumped it in the basket, leaving me only in a camisole and my underwear. It's not like I'm sharing room this room with anyone, so I have the freedom to wear what I want. There's also the fact that I'm too lazy to change. I'll get to it when I shower later.

With a can of cool MAX Coffee in hand, I begin to ponder on what I should do tonight. It's already 9 pm but luckily I only have afternoon classes tomorrow. I can afford to stay up late and do whatever I want.

"Guess I'll go watch some videos." I mutter to myself as I bring out my laptop and Pan-san doll from my room and bring it onto the sofa.

It's customary for me to always have my precious and adorable Pan-san doll whenever I watch cat videos or movies of any kind. I just can't seem to properly relax without it. I am aware that this may not seem like a normal activity for a 20 year old woman to do. I mean, this is more befitting for child attending elementary, not a 2nd year university student. People my age would rather go out and drink till they drop or do something other kind of social event, something I'm not all that fond of. Even for those who don't even participate in those kinds of outings, they would definitely not be watching hours worth of cats on the internet. Even I don't completely understand why I do this when I have better alternatives readily available.

Eh whatever, as long as I enjoy myself and vent off some steam, I don't really care anymore. With that decided, I tightly hug my beloved Pan-san and access one of my many playlists of household felines doing mundane yet cute things.

I'm ready for tonight.

* * *

I can hear the sound of birds chirping as I feel some discomfort coming from body. It seems that I fell asleep on the couch instead of my bed again. Given the frequency this happens, I should really get a softer couch. This back pain is just horrible damn it.

Looking at the time, it's 10 minutes to noon. My next class is still an hour from now, so I have nothing to worry about. Though the problem now though is lunch. I have either the option of cooking my own lunch or heading off to the campus university. Both choices have their pros and cons after all.

If I were to stay at home, I have to prepare the ingredients myself then make an actual dish out of those ingredients. Sure I might've improved from my disastrous cooking skills from the past, but that doesn't mean cooking suddenly became a walk in the park. Oh how I wish I could just eat instant ramen everyday instead. Sadly, I was prohibited from doing so by mom as one of the conditions for staying here. The up side is that I get to eat in peaceful and comfortable isolation with no pesky kouhais or classmates to annoy me.

If I were to eat in the cafeteria however, I would have no need to go through the painstaking procedure of cooking. Money is also not an important factor since my allowance isn't in danger or anything. Unfortunately, I will be surrounded by people. I don't understand why but people have a tendency to approach me even though I'm not all that amiable. Perhaps its my high levels of charisma? I honestly would've preferred to level up a more important stat though. After all, this attractiveness of mine has more harm than good. I remember how in the early days of university when a lot of horny guys tried to hit on me simply because of my appearance. Due to the countless cold glares I gave along with how unapproachable I was, I was nicknamed 'Ice Queen' for a while. Fortunately this is university and not high school, so the nickname never caught on to my relief.

What was I thinking about again? Oh yeah, lunch.

In conclusion, do I prioritize peaceful and silent isolation or not going through the tedious act of cooking?

What a predicament indeed...

I then heart my stomach growl as I was in the middle of contemplating. Now that I think about it, I really didn't factor in time and my hunger. Cooking would roughly take half an hour while eating at the campus would only take 10 minutes at maximum.

Guess we have a winner.

After spending a total of 5 minutes, I fully cleaned and clothed myself. As always, I made sure I locked up before leaving. Since I was fueled by hunger, I made it to the campus gates faster than usual . That's the power of human desires for you I guess.

Luckily for me when I made it to the cafeteria, there was barely anyone lining up. As I was making my way towards the counter, I was thinking about what I should order. Should I go for something light like simple yakisoba bread or maybe something heavier? I feel like that's all I've been eating for lunch lately though. Sure it lessens the burden on my funds, but I would like to enjoy some variety in my lunches. Maybe some ramen? Yeah, ramen sounds good. Nothing can go wrong with ramen.

Once I made it to the counter, I ordered the Shoyu ramen. Surprisingly, this ramen is actually pretty good compared to standard ramen you can find in non-specialized stores. I swear this cafeteria is amazing, the one in high school just can't compare.

When I finally received my order, I made my way to the most secluded area of the cafeteria. This way, I can minimize the number of people who could possibly approach me and disturb my peace. I have to hurry before someone catches sight of me.

"Huh? Is that Yui-senpai?" I heard a voice say from the distance. Well that's just my luck. Looks like I can't avoid this situation any longer. After turning around, I was met with a familiar figure, a young and fashionable flaxen haired woman wearing a simple red blouse and jeans. Why do I have this feeling I've seen her before...

Ah, now I remember! She was that one kouhai in high school who was always included in that stupid clique I was in. Ugh, just the memories of being in a social circle like that irritates me. It shames me every time I recall that period where I believed 'Friendship last forever!' Ha, what a load of bull.

If I remember correctly, her name was...

"Yahallo Iroha-chan!" I say in a forced energetic voice. Due to this being a high school acquaintance, I have to reluctantly put on the persona of an airhead. Also, what the hell is 'Yahallo'? How did this incomprehensible and awful sounding mixture of syllables end up as a greeting?

"Yahallo Yui-senpai! Is it okay if I eat with you? I wanna catch up since we haven't seen each other since high school." She asked me with a huge smile plastered on my face. Too bright, too bright! How could I possibly resist a request like that when you're shining a smile like that?

"Sure I don't mind." I replied in a happy-go-lucky tone which disgusts me to no end. I could've just refused her and made a lie about having a class soon. Damn my weakness.

After sitting down, Iroha just kept on blabbering on about how herself as well complaining about all her different problems. As expected, she's just like almost everyone else when it comes to conversations. Fortunately, I've trained myself to give generic responses without actually having to listen to what she's talking about while being able to enjoy my lunch.

"By the way Yui-senpai, when did you dye your hair brown?" My hair? Oh yeah, there was a time where I dyed my hair with a obnoxiously bright peach color. I still don't understand why I did that. It made me look like some anime character. Besides, I like my hair with this more natural color.

"Yeah. I thought it would be better to have my natural hair color here in university."

"What happened to your usual hair bun?" That reminds me, why did I even have a hair bun in the first place? It wasn't even all that fashionable now that I think about it.

"I just felt like changing my hair style really." With my desire to sleep as much as I possibly could, I couldn't afford to do something as obnoxious and time-consuming as a hair bun. Though not tying up my hair would be a pain in the ass, so I decided to use some red ribbon I found lying around in my closet. Surprisingly, I actually liked the way it looked on me even though I'm not all that interested in fashion.

"I see. Well, that ribbon looks really good on you too!"

"Thanks!"

Just having this conversation is already a pain in the ass. How long have I been talking with this girl anyway?

Although, I've noticed something interesting. She frequently mentions this 'senpai' which is safe to assume is male based on the conversation. Even though it looks like she complains about him a lot, it appears that she is quite fond of him. Ah, perhaps this is a real life case of a tsundere? Though I feel a bit of nostalgia when I hear her mention this senpai of hers. Maybe I knew him?

"I can't believe senpai and Yukinoshita-senpai still aren't a couple yet! I understand those two are clumsy when it comes to romance, but they've already been living under the same roof in Tokyo for already 2 years. This is just pushing it!" Iroha frustratingly complained as she was eating her meal. Despite my brain registering everything she's saying as insignificant, I just can't get that name out of my mind.

Yukinoshita...

Just where did I hear that name before? Every time I try to recall that name, my mind gets hazier and hazier. Not to mention this dreadful headache that's accompanied with it. To try to avert my attention elsewhere, I take a peek at my phone to see it's almost time for my class. At least I managed to finish my ramen with all her yapping.

"Sorry Iroha-chan, I have a class to get to. It was fun talking to you!" I 'apologize' as I stand and prepare to leave. She simply smiled and waved as she tanked me for the time.

For the remainder of the afternoon, I could barely focus on my lectures because of that name. I managed to be able to take down notes and listen, but my mind would always wander every now and then due to that name. No matter how hard I try, I can't just get it out of head.

Just who is this person and what is their significance to me to the extent that this is happening to me?

If I remember right, this person should be in Tokyo according to what I heard awhile ago. If I wanted to, I could always ask details from Iroha. Though there is this nagging side of me that says to just ignore it.

So I did. Or at least I tried to, if it weren't for the nightmares.


End file.
